Dynamo Make First Mistake in Post-Kinnear Era

The Houston Dynamo just released their list of protected players for the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft and the Post-Dominic Kinnear era just started with an absolute thud as the Houston Dynamo left forward Mark Sherrod exposed in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft.

The day actually started out great as Houston moved Andrew Driver and a fourth round draft pick for Joe Willis and Samuel Inkoom. Willis could provide quality competition for Tyler Deric at ‘keeper and Inkoom may provide quality depth as well. Both players were also left exposed with Sherrod which is a bit of a confusing move, but its addition by subtraction in moving Driver and you hopefully get a piece or two that sticks on the roster next year.

However, Houston likely made a MAJOR mistake in leaving Mark Sherrod exposed. Sherrod is a classic MLS Expansion Draft pick. A young player who played well in limited minutes with an extremely low cap hit. What downside is there for New York or Orlando to take a risk and pick Sherrod? None. It also would be no surprise to see Orlando City SC or New York City FC flip Sherrod to either Dominic Kinnear in San Jose or another MLS team.

In years past, it was pretty easy to complain about the players the Houston Dynamo failed to protect in Expansion Drafts as they were a much deeper team and usually a good player had to be left unprotected. This year, the team does not have that same depth.

So who should have been left exposed that was protected?

Jermaine Taylor for starters. His high cap hit, national team call-ups, and struggles over the last two years make him low-hanging fruit. If Taylor is Exhibit 1A, Alex Lopez may be Exhibit 1B unless he has a no-trade clause that would require that he be protected.

Finally, you could even roll the dice and leave a Ricardo Clark unprotected. His injury issues and high cap hit make an expansion team less likely to select him even though he was one of Houston’s better performers last year. It may have ended up as an expansion draft debacle like Brian Ching, but Houston would have been just fine at defensive midfielder next year with or without Ricardo Clark as Luis Garrido was impressive.

The only silver lining is that Orlando City and New York City may have a completely different approach to the Expansion draft than prior years. These two expansion teams have not been reluctant to splash cash already. As a result, they may have more interest in an experienced veteran like Corey Ashe instead of a Mark Sherrod. One can only hope!